1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical cable assembly, and particularly to a high speed Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) (SAS) cable assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Parallel ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) and parallel SCSI are two dominant disk interface technologies today. The parallel ATA disks are widely used in desktop PCs and mobile PCs, and the parallel SCSI disks are mainly used in high-volume servers and subsystems. As disk interconnect speeds continue to rise, existing parallel ATA and parallel SCSI buses are reaching their performance limits because that parallel transmissions are susceptible to crosstalk across multiple streams of wide ribbon cable that adds line noise and can cause signal errors-a pitfall that has been remedied by slowing the signal, limiting cable length or both. Therefore, new interconnect technologies are needed to meet performance requirements going forward. The serial technology is emerging as a solution to the problem. The main advantage of serial technology is that while it does move data in a single point-to-point stream, it does so much faster than parallel technology because it is not tired to a particular clock speed.
Serial ATA (SATA) is a serial version of ATA, which is expected to be a replacement for parallel ATA. U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,676 discloses a panel mount SATA cable assembly. The cable assembly includes a cable end receptacle connector and a cable terminated to the receptacle connector. The receptacle connector includes an insulative housing defining two receiving slots separated by a partition therebetween and two sets of contacts respectively installed in the two slots for signal and power transmission. U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,122 discloses a type of SATA receptacle connector for being mounted on a printed circuit board. U.S. Pat. No. D469407 discloses an electrical connector assembly with a SATA plug connector as a part thereof for matably engaging with the SATA cable assembly or the SATA receptacle connector.
Serial Attached SCSI is a successor to the parallel SCSI and is also based on serial technology. Besides the advantage of higher speed signal transmission, another most significant advantage is the SAS interface will also be compatible with SATA drives. In other words, the SATA plug connector can plug directly into a SAS receptacle connector if supported in the system. By this way, the system builders are flexible to integrate either SAS or SATA devices and slash the costs associated with supporting two separate interfaces.
The SAS receptacle connector has generally the same configuration as the SATA receptacle connector except that the two slots of the SATA receptacle connector are merged in a large one of SAS receptacle connector. In some applications, a third sets of contacts are assembled to a second side wall opposing a first side wall where two sets of contacts have already been assembled. However, the second side wall is much thinner than the first side wall in a lateral direction of the connector. Thus, it is difficult to provide passages in such second side wall like in the first side wall for receiving contacts and allowing the contact portion of each contact to be moveable therein. If the third sets of contacts are directly adhered on an interior face of the second side wall with each contact portion curved away from the interior face, when a SAS plug connector mates with the SAS receptacle connector, terminals of the SAS plug connector tightly abut against the corresponding contacts of the SAS receptacle connector to establish an electrical connection therebetween. However, the contact portion of each contact is inevitably deformed toward the interior face after a long term pressure of the terminal, which will reduce the normal contacting force between the contact and the terminal, thereby causing the electrical connection therebetween unreliable or even break.
The present invention aims to provide a cable assembly having an improved cable end connector to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cable assembly having a cable end connector which can provide a reliable electrical connection with a complementary connector.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a cable assembly having a cable end connector which is adapted to mate with a SATA header connector and a SAS header connector.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, a cable assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a unitary longitudinal insulative housing comprising a base and a mating section extending forwardly from the base. The mating section defines an uninterrupted central slot along a lengthwise direction thereof. The mating section comprises opposite first and second elongated walls located at two longitudinal sides of the central slot. The first wall defines a cavity recessed from an interior face thereof and in communication with the central slot in a transverse direction. A plurality of first and second contacts are disposed in the first elongated wall along the longitudinal direction and separated by the cavity. A plurality of wires electrically connects with corresponding first and second contacts. A cover is over-molded on the base to cover the contacts and the wires.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the second wall is integrally formed with an expanded portion on an exterior face of the second wall and in alignment with the cavity in the transverse direction. A plurality of third contacts is disposed in the expanded portion and electrically connects with a plurality of wires.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.